Data in the Wand Shop
by hermione-of-vulcan
Summary: Sort of related to my other Harry Potter/Star Trek TNG crossovers. When Data has a strange outburst of magic, Picard directs him to Hogwarts and Ollivanders. Standard disclaimers apply.


Data in the Wand Shop

Data pushed open the door to the dusty wand shop, Ollivander's. Picard had recommended it, saying that was where he had got his wand. Data studied the boxes stacked as high as the ceiling, and recalled all that the captain had told him of wandlore. It was the captain who first recognized that Data was a wizard. A plasma shock had opened up a new part of his programming, and there had been an unfortunate outburst of magic that caused an explosion. Fortunately, Jean-Luc Picard was a wizard, and had sent Data to Earth to be taught at his old school, Hogwarts.

"Good afternoon, Noonien."

Data swiveled around to face the speaker, an old man with large pale eyes like moons.

"Noonien Soong was my father." Data said.

"An old man's mistake, you look very much like him. Though I expected to see any child of his sooner. Seems only yesterday that he was in here buying his wand."

"My powers only surfaced recently."

Apparently not hearing him, the old man continued "Noonien Soong chose a wand suited to his skills. Beechwood and phoenix feather, adaptable. Well, I say chose, but the wand chooses the wizard. That wand was good for complex spells, probably some of them Noonien's own inventions. Great things were in store for him, no doubt of it. Which is your wand arm?"

"I am left-handed."

A tape measure uncoiled itself and measured Data's left arm. Ollivander began taking boxes off shelves.

"Sometimes children will have a similar wand to their parents, but in your case I don't think so. You seem different from Noonien. Quieter, for one thing. Noonien talked all through his wand choosing about some sort of Muggle science, what was it called—cy…cy…"

"Cybernetics." Data supplied.

"You would know, being his son. It had something to do with creating life from machinery. Sounded crazy to me, but he found it fascinating. Here, try this wand, chestnut and unicorn hair, thirty-five centimeters, whippy."

Data waved it. Nothing happened.

"Hmm, usually something happens. Try this one, willow and dragon heartstring, swishy."

It yielded no better results than the first.

Data tried wand after wand. For all the results he got, he could have been waving a variety of sticks. It had been mid afternoon when Data entered the shop, but the sky outside was beginning to darken. Data wondered whether the "magic" he'd shown was just a malfunction, and Picard had been mistaken.

"Why didn't I think of that before?" Ollivander looked at Data as if he was seeing him in a new light. The old man raced to the back of the shop and Data heard him rummaging around. He emerged with another wand box in his hand.

"This was an experiment of mine." He said, taking the top off the box. The fading sunlight glinted off a metal wand.

"I wanted to see if a wizard could channel their magic through a metal instrument. No wizard that tried this has ever been able to do anything with it. But you…"

Data picked it up. The other wands had felt light in his hand, but this felt like it could do something. He swished it through the air and golden sparks trailed out of the end—the same color as his eyes. Ollivander regarded him curiously.

"So Noonien really did it."

"Did what?"

"When he was in here, he talked about that science of his and that maybe it could be combined with magic. Am I right in assuming that you are not Noonien Soong's biological son, but his…creation?"

"You are correct." Data opened a panel in the side of his head and displayed the blinking lights of his brain. He closed it again and took the box from Ollivander.

"What is its price?" he asked. The old man sighed.

"It is an unusual wand, even by wand standards, since every wand is unique. An unusual wand for an unusual wizard." He paused and thought.

"Nine galleons." He decided.

Data paid and left, and as he walked out of the shop he heard Ollivander muttering.

"Mixing Muggle technology with magic! Only Noonien…


End file.
